This terrifying world is not devoid of charms, of the mornings that make waking up worthwhile.
WISLAWA SZYMBORSKAThis terrifying world is not devoid of charms, of the mornings that make waking up worthwhile.
WISLAWA SZYMBORSKAThere is so much Everything that Nothing is hidden quite nicely.
WISLAWA SZYMBORSKASecret codes resound. Doubts and intentions come to light.
WISLAWA SZYMBORSKAI’m working on the world, revised, improved edition, featuring fun for fools blues for brooders, combs for bald pates, tricks for old dogs.
WISLAWA SZYMBORSKAAll the best have something in common, a regard for reality, an agreement to its primacy over the imagination.
WISLAWA SZYMBORSKAAll imperfection is easier to tolerate if served up in small doses.
WISLAWA SZYMBORSKAI slide my arm from under the sleeper’s head and it is numb, full of swarming pins, on the tip of each, waiting to be counted, the fallen angels sit.
WISLAWA SZYMBORSKAI cannot speak for more than an hour exclusively about poetry. At that point, life itself takes over again.
WISLAWA SZYMBORSKAIn every tragedy, an element of comedy is preserved. Comedy is just tragedy reversed.
WISLAWA SZYMBORSKAMemory at last has what I sought.
WISLAWA SZYMBORSKAIt’s just not easy to explain to someone else what you don’t understand yourself.
WISLAWA SZYMBORSKAI like being near the top of a mountain. One can’t get lost here.
WISLAWA SZYMBORSKAWhat does the world get from two people/who exist in a world of their own?
WISLAWA SZYMBORSKANo one feels good at four in the morning. If ants feel good at four in the morning —three cheers for the ants.
WISLAWA SZYMBORSKAAnd whatever I do will become forever what I’ve done.
WISLAWA SZYMBORSKAAny knowledge that doesn’t lead to new questions quickly dies out: it fails to maintain the temperature required for sustaining life.
WISLAWA SZYMBORSKA